In drilling, drill stem testing and in the maintenance of oil and gas wells and for other deep well bores in the earth, it is necessary to introduce test instruments into the bore hole. Bundle carriers are commonly used to carry instruments of various types downhole. These bundle carriers comprise, in general configuration, an elongate section of the drill string, threaded at either end to interconnect with other elements of the drill string, having a passageway therethrough for introducing or extracting fluids, for dropping measuring instruments and the like down into the hole, etc., all as well known in the art. In one form, these bundle carriers comprise a slot or a plurality of slots running longitudinally along the outside of the bundle carrier for receiving instruments. These slots may be as much as four, six or more feet long and, generally, are from one and a half to two and a half inches in diameter to receive various sizes of instruments. Pressure, flow, temperature and other measuring instruments are fitted into these slots. Means are provided for communicating fluid or a fluid signal through the walls of the bundle carrier or through portions of the bundle carrier to sample either the fluid conditions inside the flow passageway or on the outside of the bundle carrier, or both. In the past, it has been conventional to provide a system for inserting an instrument into one or more of these slots, twisting it or otherwise fitting it into a socket or fitting in the bundle carrier and then locking it in place using a locking ring or some other method of locking it in the slot of the bundle carrier. Such a structure is described by patent application Ser. No. 648,513, filed Sept 10, 1984, entitled ECCENTRIC BUNDLE CARRIER, the inventor of which is Stephen H. Ficken.
Bundle carriers of this type are in common use throughout the world and are well known and understood in the art. Fundamentally, the bundle carrier comprises means for connecting an elongate measuring instrument in one or more elongate slots therein and means for permitting fluid communication with the instrument.